I am exactly the same weight. The 5'8 for paddling is excellent and the surfing is even better. You will be able to put the board where you want it. Alot of people say i am ripping on this board so it must be a good board

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I am curious with sizing. Looking into ggettinga Vanguard later on when I get better at surfing and dont have trouble with my 5'8 Dominator. What size would you recommend for me at 5'9, 160-165lbs and fit? Im 17 btw. Maybe looking at getting this board in a year or so

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I am curious with sizing. Looking into ggettinga Vanguard later on when I get better at surfing and dont have trouble with my 5'8 Dominator. What size would you recommend for me at 5'9, 160-165lbs and fit? Im 17 btw. Maybe looking at getting this board in a year or so

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Hey Bubbles,
Have you had any more surfs on the VG? I'm a mature surfer trying to choose between the 5'8 and the 5'10. I also surf on a 5'6 Sweet P which has to much foam but it's so easy to catch waves on it that I enjoy the quantity. I'm thinking the 5'10 has 3 liters less volume than the 5'6 Sweet so it should perform better but still give me quite a bit of volume. I'm 5'10 and 175 before the wetsuit.... I've talked to two shop guys who ride VGs. One sez the VG paddles like the Bourez don't get it... The other guy said it paddles great it's the best board he's ever had...
Who should I believe?

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I'm 5'9 175 pound and picked up a 5'6 vanguard yesterday. 1.5 Litres less than my 5'10 unibrow but the VG paddles around the lineup and into waves way faster. Unless you are super unfit or surfing absolute mush I think you are looking way too big.

Hey Waxer I've surfed the vanguard quite a bit now and I'm glad I opted for the 5'10. I could definitely ride the 5'8" but for me @ 40 and surfing in a wetsuit in uk waves it has been spot on. I was previously surfing a modern 6'2" keel fined fish as my goto board - it packed more volume than my normal short board but in a slightly shorter package, the free speed of the fish and the shorter length seemed to really suit my surfing but i missed the short board top to bottom turns that fishes shy away from. The vanguard is roughly the same volume and catches waves as easily with the same sort of crazy speed as a keel fin fish but you can properly turn it like a short board, infact I've been surfing better on the vanguard than I've ever surfed I think in 30 years! So to answer the volume question I'd go with a volume close to your everyday board, if you're a ripper on low volume boards get a similar low volume vanguard , like wise if you're an average joe on a hybrid or fuller shape as your everyday board get a volume similar to that. I would get caught up in all this ride it as short as you can stuff unless you're a proper short board ripper already on low volume boards. :-)